Welcome to the Fishing Report. It is COOL and sunny here in Townsend this morning. The high today is only going to be in the low 70's in the Knoxville area meaning cooler in the mountains. I'm glad it is still cold. When it started to get warm over the last few weeks I was not looking forward to a long hot Summer. I am hoping for a nice cool one.
The weather forecast for this weekend looks great. They are calling for sunny weather and not too hot. Fishing this weekend should be fantastic. This is just a guess but I wouldn't think that the mountains will be too busy with anglers. I expect most of them are coming the weekend after for TroutFest.

Checking the river this morning at the swinging bridge here in Townsend the water looks great. Water levels are nearly perfect. Temperatures have taken a bit of a tumble over the last few days. It was 52F this morning. If you are going to be out early I would focus on nymph fishing. The colder water will have the trout a bit more sluggish. As the day goes on and the water temps warm you should see some hatches.The Bolingers were camping up at Elkmont this week and when Bill stopped in earlier he said they had been seeing some Light Cahills coming off in the evening. He said they were in the #14-#16 size range.

There has been a big variety of bugs hatching out right now. Try some tan, cream or even yellow patterns.

TroutFest is coming up fast. It seems like just yesterday that Byron and the TroutFest committee were meeting to talk about the success of the event and look for ways to improve it. I guess that is almost a year ago now. It has been a blur. There are some great new additions for this year. The TroutFest Journal turned out incredible. You'll have to buy a copy and check it out. There is stickers this year too. I think Tom Rosenbauer and Zach Matthews are going to be great additions. You can take a look at the schedule of events for TroutFest HERE.

Byron is off today scouting some new fishing spots. Paula is making paper mache and plaster rocks for her casting contest. That is going to be drastically different this year from any other casting contest. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.

Daniel Drake
May 5, 2011

Troutfest will be held on May 13th through the 15th. This is going to be an incredible event and you should plan to be here. To learn more CLICK HERE to visit the Troutfest website. To purchase banquet tickets online, CLICK HERE.

Our fly fishing classes will be offered from March to October 2011. To sign up just call the shop at 877-448-3474. You can read more on our website in the Schools Section. The fly fishing class schedule follows:

Saturday March 26 – Beginner Day One
Saturday April 9 – Beginner Day One
Saturday April 30 – Beginner Day One
Sunday May 1 – Beginner Onstream Day Two
Saturday May 7 – Beginner Day One
Saturday May 21 – Beginner Day One
Sunday May 22 – Beginner Onstream Day Two
Saturday June 11 – Beginner Day One
Saturday June 25 – Beginner Day One
Sunday June 26 – Beginner Onstream Day Two
Saturday July 9 – Beginner Day One
Saturday July 23 – Beginner Day One
Sunday July 24 – Beginner Onstream Day Two
Saturday September 10 – Beginner Day One
Saturday September 24 – Beginner Day One
Sunday September 25 – Beginner Onstream Day Two
Saturday October 8 – Beginner Day One
Saturday October 22 – Beginner Day One
Sunday October 23 – Beginner Onstream Day Two